Kannapon Lopetcharat
Faculty of Science, Chulalongkorn University
How can we define Thai consumers other than people who live in the Kingdom of Thailand? Eating rice, speaking Thai, being Buddhists, watching AF and soap operas are traits of Thai, aren’t they? Unlike Western countries, Thailand is an ultimate ethnographical arena where almost everyone learns by listening and observing and a land of ‘diasporas’ who create cliques and communities within a country where similarities are harmoniously exemplified and differences are subtly recognized.
This presentation will explore the similarities and differences that shape food culture and ultimately food innovation in Thailand. Moreover, many examples of products will be shown and several reasons behind their successes and failures provided. Also, this presentation will propose a new approach, the Multi-faceted Consumer Research Approach, to study and understand consumers in order to gain an “in-depth” understanding and consumer insight that can be used in new food innovation.
(Presented in the 2012 Asian Food Heritage Forum: Harmonizing Culture , Technology and Industry, 20-21 August 2012, Imperial Queen’s Park Hotel, Bangkok, organized by Institute of Thai Studies, Institute of Asian Studies, Faculty of Fine and Applied Arts, Chulalongkorn University, Chinese Dietary Culture Institute, Zhejiang Gongshang University, and Ministry of Culture, Thailand)